#superstition

...every hangar and maintenance shop and so on has its own absurd rituals; it's just that every single hangar thinks that theirs are perfectly normal.

Sometimes when I sit and I knit I hear my older cousin’s voice in my ear warning me not to pull too tight. The yarn can feel I’m nervous and whatever I’m making will fall apart if I knit while nervous. You have to knit with calm confidence or you doom your project.

Sometimes when I’m sewing I feel my aunt’s hands guiding mine and telling me to remember to thank my thread because this thread has gone through so much to become the thread that holds my project together. And you need to thank the things that hold you together.

Sometimes when I’m embroidering I remember my mamaw’s warning about how you always embroider the eyes last if you’re embroidering an animal or person. The eyes bring the piece to life and once you stitch them they can feel. And being stabbed with a needle over and over is very unpleasant.

Sometimes when I’m braiding my hair or a cord or a length of dandelion for a crown I remember the old whispers I grew up with: don’t think bad thoughts while you braid, you’ll braid a curse into your hair and you’ll have to wash it thrice to get it out.

We had beliefs about baking, cooking, cleaning, sewing, weaving, singing, dancing, playing, joking. Every craft and skill the people in my family taught me came with a lesson or a warning.

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It's important to teach yourself to feel responsible for random events, because with great responsibility comes great power. That's what my wise Uncle Ben told me right before he died; he might still be alive today if only I'd said rabbit rabbit that year!

Superstition [Explained]

Transcript Under the Cut